


Series of Things We Do as Roommates

by NaruYuki



Category: Original Work
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Original Character(s), POV Alternating, Roommates, Some Plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-06-28 10:50:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19810753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NaruYuki/pseuds/NaruYuki
Summary: Three strangers come together and through their series of shenanigans and bonding end up as good friends.  It's a light-hearted story with some serious undertones.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the one series that I'm working on right now, so hopefully it will get a lil traction here.
> 
> Follow me here if you wanna see me waste time :)  
> https://www.instagram.com/naruyuki_/  
> https://admintan.tumblr.com/

(Ava Zimmerman)

Today would be the day we met the third member of our trio. Pedro and I had gotten in yesterday and Dop messaged us saying that there was a scheduling conflict and she wouldn’t get in until the next day.

Pedro and I were idly chatting while we set up the living room when we heard two bangs come from the entrance. I got up and cautiously walked over. I looked through the peephole to see a girl with a few boxes and a bag standing outside. I glanced back at Pedro and whispered, “I think it’s her.” He just smiled and I unlocked and opened the door.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Pedro was the first to greet her. I heard faint noises coming from her before Pedro took the boxes from Dop’s arms and set them down in the living room. She picked up her bag and walked in. I closed the door when she entered and locked it back. She wore a sweater so baggy that I couldn't tell if she even had shorts on.

“I’m Ava, he’s Pedro. It’s nice to finally meet you,” I said. She turned to look at me and just flashed an awkward smile. My first thought of her was that she was going to be trouble and we would rarely see her. However, that did not unnerve me and I continued on as usual. “Pedro took the smaller bedroom and we’re paired up in the bigger one just like we all agreed on,” I took the bag that she was holding and lightly placed my hand on her shoulder to guide her into our room. Even though she immediately shrugged off my hand , she complied and followed. Noted.

“I hope you don’t mind that I made your bed for you. I just wanted you to feel welcome as soon as you walked in.” I looked in her direction to see her reaction. She still held a deadpan expression but she smiled a much more genuine smile this time.

“Thanks. I always hated making my bed. Every time I visit my mom she asks ‘Did you make your bed this morning?’” And she put on an accent when she mimicked her mother. I let out a soft chuckle and suddenly that first impression I had of her washed away.

“WE HAVE WATER!” Pedro yelled from the bathroom.

“Did you not have water yesterday?” Dop asked. She had tossed her backpack to the edge of the bed and lied down.

“Either the landlord or the water company sucks. We said when we’d be in, yet...” Then there was a silence between us while Dop zipped open her backpack and ruffled through it.

“Well, since neither of you work anytime soon I call dibs on the first shower because I have work in an hour.” Dop then pulled out several items and walked off to the bathroom without another word. I furrowed my brow in slight irritation, but as I saw Pedro come my way I softened my countenance.

“What’s with the mean look?” Pedro asked. Apparently he saw that.

“I…” a sigh escaped, “what do you think about her?”

“Hmm… she’s a little standoffish but she also said I can take a picture of her later. Just give her time. She doesn’t seem like the type to warm up to new people over night.”

The moment Dop stepped out of the door Pedro eagerly came up to me.

“Hey Ava, did you notice what Dop said?”

“Uhh…” she hadn’t said anything of importance when she had gotten out of the bathroom and I’m not entirely sure she even said bye before she left. “I think you need to be a little more specific.”

“She said she had work in an hour, but how did she get a job if she just got in today?” He put his hand to his chin, waiting for me to share my thoughts.

“Oh. I didn’t even catch that. That is weird though because there’s no way she could get a job that quickly.”

“Maybe, she works at a chain store and she just transferred.”

“Or maybe she’s lying because she’s hiding something shady from us.”

“I mean--that’s a possibility, but I doubt it. We all have things to hide but it’s probably not anything shady.”

“Hey, you were the one who brought it up. I was just putting in my two cents.”

“It was just something I noticed, nothing to get on her case about.”

“All right, if you say so.”


	2. Chapter 2

(Dop Gänger)

Work was boring as usual since it was a slow day. I spent some time thinking about how I was going to get accustomed to living with two strangers while hiding parts of my past. It earned me enough money but it was a dangerous lifestyle. It’s a miracle that I managed to get out of the business. I started working day jobs in January, in April I found the perfect place in Virginia and moved in May. My mother was finally in a better hospital and even after all the moving I still had a decent amount in my bank account left. August was when I’d finally start college. I was normal again, but I would never be able to live the same way like I did when I was 16.

All of the stress that had been building up in my chest dissipated when I visited my mother. The first thing I did was kick off my shoes and crawl into bed with her. I told her about my new roommates and work and when we fell into silence, we watched TV and dozed off together. I don’t know how long I was out, but a nurse rudely woke me up. I carefully got out of bed so I wouldn’t wake Nanay. I put on my shoes, kissed her forehead and went home.

“So, are you only studying photography?” I heard Ava’s voice from another room when I opened up the door.

“No. It’s… kind of complicated. I’m studying a lot in order to be able to write about what I’m interested in. I know that the more time goes on the way we consume media changes. I would like to eventually create my own magazine.” Pedro responded. He seemed to really have his life figured out. Is that why he asked for my picture? I slowly closed the door back but the click of the lock was enough to cease their conversation. Pedro poked his head out from my room--our shared room--and waved. Ava poked her head out beneath his. It looked like a scene out of a cartoon.

“Didn’t you say you worked for 6 hours? You were out for a lot longer than that,” Ava was the first to speak up. Her default expression reminded me of a teacher from 7th grade. It was sort of unsettling how much she looked like a teacher even out of a school environment.

“I went to see my mom…” I answered and headed to my bedroom to undress. When my shirt was on they were facing me but after I pulled my shirt off from over my head they were facing away from me.

“A little warning next time,” Ava said.

“Doesn’t your mom live in Illinois?” Pedro was unphased.

“No, she moved with me.”

“If you moved together, how come you don’t live with her?” I guess it was inevitable.

“She’s sick so she stays at a hospital.”

“Is your dad not in the picture?” I saw Ava slap Pedro’s arm and he mouthed ‘what’ at her.

“No, he left after she was diagnosed.”

“Oh. My dad slowly faded out of the picture and completely disappeared by high school, so I can relate.”

“You can turn around now,” I said before I subjected the topic of parents on Ava, “what about your dad Ava?”

“Wow, you’re both really bad at the whole tact thing,” there was a questionable look on Ava’s face.

“You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to,” Pedro was quicker to the punch than I was.

“No, it’s not that. I just find it funny how both of you were just quick firing with no hesitation,” I didn’t understand what she meant by that but Pedro looked at Ava and let out a quiet hum, like he knew what the context behind her words were. “My dad is still around he just lives in Pennsylvania. My mom died of diabetes though… so… I can relate.” And then there was an awkward silence. Ava shifted uncomfortably and Pedro looked like he was thinking of how to add to the conversation or how to change it.

“Hey, how about I take that picture of you guys now?” He chimed. We both agreed and waited for him to get his materials. We heard the fridge open in the process. When he came back he ushered us to sit on my bed. He sat in the middle and we sat on either side of him.

“Say cheese!” Ava and I both unenthusiastically complied and he snapped the picture. After taking the picture he put the polaroid under his arm and looked at him curiously.

“Whaa… aren’t you supposed to shake it?” I asked.

“Nope. You never shake polaroid pictures, even if the song tells you to.” I snorted at his stupid joke and I’m pretty sure I heard Ava do the same. He continued, “After taking a polaroid you put it in a warm place, because I’m storing the film in the fridge until I get a mini fridge so please be careful in there, and then after a few minutes you put it in a shoebox or something of that like.”

“We will be mindful in the fridge. How long until it’s… developed?” I was questioning whether I used the correct terminology or not.

“Usually about 30 minutes.” His reply prompted a groan from Ava and I. Back to the silence.

“... Do you guys wanna go watch TV?” Ava asked. We said ‘yeah’ and went to watch TV.


	3. Chapter 3

(Ava Zimmerman)

“When are your birthdays? Mine is February 17th.” Pedro suddenly spoke up. I leaned forward, he was still lying on the floor in front of the couch.

“April 26th,” Dop answered.

“June 4th. Why do you ask?” When I answered Pedro grimaced and sat up.

“I never asked and I always like to do something for people on their birthday. Especially when I’m living with them,” he quickly replaced the grimace with his default smile.

“Oh, that’s what that look was for.”

“Look? What look?” He tried to play dumb.

“It’s June 1st which means you only have three days to come up with something for my birthday.”

“Whaaaat? Noooo! That’s not why I made that face…” he was trying to come up with something when Dop stepped in.

“Is it because you have a shift in 3 hours?” Pedro made that same face.

“ _ I forgot _ …” he not so subtly whispered. He looked at both of us for a few seconds and then he stood up. “What time is it?” He kept a perplexed look on his face and nodded his head three times, ‘12’ he mouthed. Then he suddenly locked his eyes on me. “Ava, you write down a list of things that we could get you for your birthday. I have to go get ready,” and then he raced off to his room.

“We?” Dop said out loud and we faced each other. “What would you even want for your birthday?” I thought about it for a few minutes. I always got a check from my dad and the only thing I really liked, that wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg, would be shirts or mugs with science and math jokes on them.

“Hmm… I guess the only thing I really want would be things to spruce up the apartment. It’s so barren in the living room and the kitchen. We need more decorations.”

“So… you want, like, rugs and stuff?”

“Yeah… or shelves. Oh! We could get a table and chairs set so we don’t have to eat at the couch.” Dop just snickered, covering her mouth with her hand.

“You sound like a mom,” she started to laugh louder. I frowned and glared at her. Then suddenly she started laughing harder, removing the hand from her mouth to slap her knee. “If you wanna sound older, we can get a glass cabinet and fill them with glass ornaments and fine china!”

Pedro peeked his head out from his room, “Why is Dop going hysterical?” He asked.

“She’s laughing at me because I want to get things for the apartment,” I answered.

“Eyyyy, that’s a good idea. Write it down.” He then scurried out of his room and to the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his body. Meanwhile, Dop was still laughing and when I looked back down at her she had fallen off the couch and onto the floor. I just leaned back into the couch and covered my face with my hands.

“Why did I think it was a good idea to live with two 21 year olds?”

It was the third, a Saturday, and neither of them had work that day so we all agreed to go furniture shopping. I thought that seeing Dop smile and hearing her laugh would be nice, but when she giggled about the ‘mom’ thing all weekend I just wanted to strangle her. She even roped Pedro up in it and they were both tormenting me. I thought about retaliating in a way that would get them to kill the joke, but I couldn’t figure out the proper way with them. I hadn’t known them long enough to hypothesize how they might react.

“Hey Mom, why don’t we get a fan since it’s gonna start getting hot and we don’t have enough money for an air conditioner?” Dop suggested.

“Sure honey,” The ‘honey’ accidentally slipped out. I guess that was the retaliation I needed as Dop walked off without another word. I saw her pawing at her beanie, pulling it down further onto her head before she disappeared into one of the aisles.

We went home with a few things and when we set it all up, the apartment felt a tad more homey. Pedro made us dinner and we discussed what I wanted to eat for tomorrow. I wanted cake so badly so without hesitation I said a Carvel cake. They said they would see what they could do, considering they both had to work late on my birthday, but it would be nice to have some peace and quiet.

I was changing into my pyjamas when I heard the door open and my name being called. I exited my room and saw Pedro holding a pink box with ‘Carvel’ on it and Dop holding a ‘26’ balloon accompanied by a few regular green ones.

“I haven’t had balloons for my birthday since I was… 10,” I commented with a slight laugh.

“Happy birthday!” They said in unison. We all walked over to our  _ new _ table and sat down. Pedro slid the box in front of me and after I picked all of the tape off, I opened it. Dop got up and came back with three plates, a knife and both forks and spoons.

“Who eats cake with a spoon?” I asked.

“It’s an ice cream cake, shut up!” I could see Dop holding back a grin as she got all defensive.

“Anyway, thanks--”

“Wait! Wait, wait, wait,” Pedro continued to say ‘wait’ as he got whatever it was out of the plastic bag that was on the floor. He stopped once he placed two candles and a lighter on the table. Pedro eyed me for a second, giving me a look like I should know what he meant. “Close your eyes!”

“Eh… o-okay.” I covered my eyes with my hand and listened to them struggle with opening up the plastic. It took them about a minute to get them all out of their packaging and another minute to actually light the candles.

“Open your eyes,” Dop said. When I uncovered my eyes, all the lights were turned off and the fire from the 2 and the 6 candles were the only things illuminating the area.

“Happy birthday to you~! Happy birthday to you~! Happy birthday dear Ava~! Happy birthday to you~!”

“And many mooo~ooore!” Pedro added with jazz hands. I shook my head but the grin on my face was clearly present. They looked at me intently and waited for me to blow out the candles. I wished that I would have many more birthdays with them. We had only known each other for two weeks but they had been such a great two weeks. I finally blew out the candles and they clapped and turned the kitchen light back on.

“So what did you wish for?” Pedro asked excitedly.

“Pedro, you’re not supposed to say what you wished for otherwise it won’t come true,” Dop bumped her shoulder into his.

“Ohh, I don’t believe in that!” He scoffed.

“But you believe that your wish will come true just by blowing out some candles?” Dop had that deadpan expression of her face.

“Yes!” He said matter-of-factly.

“Ava, don’t say it,” Dop pointed at me.

“Say it!” Pedro’s mouth was covered by Dop’s hand and flailed to escape from her hold.

“I’m cutting the cake now,” my announcement caused them to stop bickering, “how big of a piece do you guys want?” 


	4. Chapter 4

(Pedro Sucre)

Dop was twiddling her fingers, staring down at her hands. She had been sitting still for about five minutes now and I was waiting to see if she’d ever say anything, but I decided it was finally time to take matters into my own hands.

“Dop, do you have something on your mind?” She looked up, rather startled by my question. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. “Take your time,” I said jokingly. She cracked a smile and folded her hands, squeezing tightly.

“Umm… do you guys… wanna meet my mom?” She asked quietly. My eyes lit up and I glanced at Ava. She looked surprised that Dop was offering.

“I would love to meet Mama Gänger! Are you going to see her today?” My enthusiasm clearly calmed her nerves. Her shoulders relaxed and she stopped squeezing her hands together.

“Yeah, I was thinking about leaving in the next few hours. It’s been a few days since I’ve visited.”

“Oh man… speaking of visiting moms, mine is probably gonna throw something at me as soon as I open the door,” I was dreading the barrage of flip flops and the tongue lashing but the longer I waited to see her the worse the punishment. Dop’s laughter bubbled into my thoughts. My suffering was obviously amusing to her.

“We should probably leave sooner than later, let’s go get ready,” Ava spoke up. The smile on Dop’s face went wide and she visibly inhaled.

“Dop, what are you? I don’t think you ever told us.” I had my arms wrapped around both of their necks as I was walking in between them.

“Wha?” Dop’s puzzled expression was extraordinary. I removed my arm from Dop so I could gesture.

“ _ What are youuuu? _ ” I circled my hand around my face until she answered.

“ _ Filipinooooo? _ ” She had no clue what I meant, but she did answer correctly.

“Yeaaaah, that’s what I wanted.”

“Pedro, for wanting to be a journalist you sure do have a way with words,” Ava commented.

“I’m gonna earn myself a Pulitzer with this smooth talking,” I used my free hand to shoot a finger gun in Ava’s direction. Dop suddenly grabbed my shirt and it stopped me in my tracks, which in turn stopped Ava.

“This is her room,” she explained. There were two names on the plack.

‘Room 305’

‘Ashley Montgomery’

‘Tala Omaga’

Not seeing Gänger on the plack was slightly confusing, but I went with it. We walked in and Dop was immediately greeted with an excited gasp and foreign words that were laced with love and happiness. Dop leaned over and received a tight squeeze from her mother and when she pulled away she was showered with kisses.

“Filipino moms and Spanish moms sure are a lot alike,” I accidentally said out loud. It did, however, get the attention of her mother and she looked pleasantly surprised.

“Oh! Who are your guests?” She smiled warmly to the both of us.

“We’re her roommates. I’m Ava.”  
“I’m Pedro!” I waved.

“Come closer,” she urged us as she motioned for us to get closer. Ava and I moved closer to the bed and she pulled me in for a hug first and then she pulled in Ava for a hug after.  “I’m Tala. I’m so happy I can put faces to your names. Dop talks about you two all the time.” I glanced over at Dop with a smug smile and she looked away, muttering what I could only assume to be ‘mom’ under her breath; the foreign words returned. Tala looked at Dop and then gestured over at Ava.

A surge of adrenaline hit me when I heard a singular word that was reminiscent of a Spanish word, if not the exact same one. Dop’s reaction only added more context. Her face lit up like a Christmas tree as she whined that same word she muttered before. I looked over at Ava to see her brows were knit with concern.

“Aww, but are you going to get married anytime soon? I want to see you walk down the aisle in a pretty dress,” her mother was laying on the guilt trip and Dop looked like she was going fade out of existence at any second. Ava and I made eye contact.

“I-I have to--water!” Dop stammered out before she raced out of the room. She pulled her beanie down so far onto her face that she bumped into the doorway on her way out. There was a brief silence before Tala clapped her hands, her eyes locked onto me.

“Pedro! Do you have any of your pictures with you?”

“YES! I always have my camera and a portfolio on me!” I was so excited to show her that I almost tore my backpack off my shoulders. 

“Pedro that is a disaster waiting to happen,” Ava just shook her head at me.

“I know, I got stabbed one time trying to get my camera back from these guys.” The horror on both of their faces face reminded me that casually mentioning my stabbing wasn’t something that people take lightly. “It wasn’t life-threatening or anything, see?” I pulled down my sleeve and showed off the scar on the side of my right forearm. Ava looked up and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Pedrooooooo,” the longer she drew out my name the harsher the noise came out, “do you need to be put in a bubble?” She was starting to sound like a mom again.

“Well, you seem like a journalist already,” Tala was apparently one of the people to look on the bright side of things. “What’s a little stab when you’ll be living through wars?”

“Eh-wha--please don’t encourage him!” Ava implored.

“Yeaaah! I’m gonna get stabbed more!” I joked just to get a rise out of Ava. Her face clearly read ‘you idiot’.

I had a great time meeting Tala. Ava probably developed a migraine, Dop was lowkey outed and I joked about getting stabbed. It was pretty business-as-usual for me.


	5. Chapter 5

(Pedro Sucre)

Our schedule was starting to have the turnout be that whenever Ava was free, Dop and I were busy and whenever Dop and I were free, Ava was busy. We were watching TV together when I started thinking about the other day when we visited Dop’s mother. I glanced over at her and she was playing with her socks; rolling them up and down her legs.

“Dop, are you gay?” I suddenly asked with no finesse or warning at all. It was something I needed to work on. She let out a startled noise and froze up.

“No…” her voice cracked. I had to say, I was impressed that she was able to make eye contact and straight up lie, but her reaction beforehand gave it away.

“You don’t have to lie. I’ve had my fair share of ‘Pedro, is that your girlfriend?’ from my mom,” I couldn’t help but mimic her voice, “and I’m not straight either.”

Dop immediately untensed and let out a loud sigh. “Oh.” I smiled a bit, happy to know she felt more comfortable around me now. “What do you mean by the girlfriend thing though?” She went back to playing with her socks.

“When we went to visit your mom, she said a word that means ‘girlfriend’ in Spanish and the way that you reacted to how she pointed at Ava… that was  _ pretty gaaaay _ .” I tilted my head and I saw her face go red again. “So your mom is cool with it? That’s nice.”

“Hmm yeah… what about your mom?”

“She doesn’t know yet. I haven’t been very interested in dating anyone because I’m so busy. Plus, I’m content with myself.” We just looked at each other. I had a smile on my face; Dop was keeping eye contact and despite her rather expressionless look I could feel the sadness in her eyes.

“We should talk about something else…” she mumbled and looked back toward the TV. I continued to stare at her, thinking about what else to talk about.

“Oh! You wanna come watch me skate? Some of my friends told me that they wanted to hang with me today.”

“Since when do you… sure, I’ll come.”

“How long have you been skating for?” Dop asked as she eyed my board. She spun one of the wheels repeatedly which was therapeutic.

“Uhh, probably for as long as I’ve been in America. I remember this kid pissed me off and I stole his skateboard,” I smiled fondly at the memory.

“What’d he do?”

“Eh, ya know, being a racist white kid. Picking on me because of my accent and calling me names. I followed him home one day because I was going to confront him, but then I saw he left his skateboard unattended and impulse kicked in and I went home with a hot new ride,” I started to trace one of the faded designs on my board as I retold the story, “But then my mom found out and it was a whole mess. She made me give it back and then he told everyone at school about it so I constantly got gawked at like I was a criminal.” I shrugged.

“That… really sucks. I got to beat up my bully and my teacher was on my side so I managed to not get in trouble. But then that idiot decided to come to my house. And my mom was the one who answered the door and she immediately recognized him and started cursing him out and…” her energetic expression and tone of voice abruptly flattened. She stayed quiet and bowed her head.

“Dop?” I placed my hand on her shoulder and gave a tiny squeeze. She didn’t respond right away and I glanced around to check out the windows. I recognized the stop and surely enough the bus stopped and my other friends, Jamie and Winston, were getting on.

“Pedro!” Jamie waved. Winston was looking in my direction but not at me, he squinted his eyes and peered curiously at Dop. The two of them took the seats on the opposite side of us.

“What’s up, man?” Winston said uninterestedly. I held my hand out for Winston to slap it, but then pulled it away at the last second. He barely reacted because he was so obviously trying to get a better look at Dop. I purposefully obstructed his view which caused him to glare at me. “Who’s your chick?” Winston was instantly smacked on the back of his head by Jamie who had a comical look of disgust on her face.

“She’s my friend, not my  _ chick _ ,” I air quoted.

“Don’t be gross, asshole,” with the way Jamie felt about Winston I wondered why they were still together. Jamie then forced Winston to get up and switch seats so she could be on the outside. “Hey, I’m Jamie.”

“Dop. Nice to meet you.” Jamie’s smile brightened when Dop spoke.

“What kind of name is Dop?” Winston piped up again. I felt the back of my shirt being grabbed and I was pulled back by Dop.

“What is wrong with your friend?” She sounded irritated already and she didn’t even know his name. That’s just how Winston was. I turned and whispered back,

“I’m so sorry, it’s a long story.”

We got to the skatepark without incident. I could feel the heat coming off of Dop as we were getting off the bus. I watched as she continuously balled up her hand and when I realized she was digging her nails into her palm I pulled her to the side; I grabbed her hand and held it so she wasn’t able to continue.

“Dop, I’m really sorry. It’s been a while since I’ve had to hang out with Winston and I forgot what an asshole he is,” I gave an apologetic smile to her but her look of frustration turned into one of surprise.

“I didn’t know that you could even talk about somebody like that. What the hell did he do to you--other than being himself?” She began to pull her hand away and I released it.

“Again, that’s a long story. I’ll tell you when we have more time. Just try not to let him get to you or this’ll be a long day,” I looked at her for a second longer before heading over to Jamie and Winston.

“Yo, she not know how to skate?” Winston asked.

“No-er-I didn’t ask but I don’t think she does.” I stepped to the side as Winston walked a few steps in Dop’s direction. He cupped his hands around his mouth and called out for her. I tried not to snicker when she squeezed her eyes shut and threw her head back, replying with an audible groan.

“‘Mere!” He motioned for her. It took her a few seconds to even lift her head back up but she eventually made her way over.

Dop pulled down her beanie and glared at Winston. “What do you want?” Monotone.

“Ya know how to skate?”

She shook her head the slightest bit, “no.”

“I’ll teach ya then. Pedro let her borrow your board.” Dop and I looked at each other in unison.

“No, Pedro came here to skate and I came here to watch.”

“Ahh well… I came here to record actually. I do need my skateboard to do that though, but you can use mine if you want to. It doesn’t bother me if I don’t record anything,” I shrugged. Dop’s eyes flickered around. She pulled her beanie down over her eyes and bowed her head.

“FUCK!” A loud curse and a sickening crack broke through the silence. We all glanced over in the direction of where it came from. A boy was on the ground and another walked up to pick up a broken skateboard. Jamie started laughing loudly and skated over to them. Her goal in life was to make fun of teenage boys that majorly screwed up a trick by hurting themselves or breaking their boards. A twisted sport, but I respected her passion.

“Aight, let’s go,” Winston came up to me and popped my board up into his hand, holding it out for Dop to take. Dop stared at him and then my board and then at me for the longest time. I just nodded my head and she instantly grabbed my board. When Winston turned his back, she lifted my board over her head and faked like she was going to attack him, but slowly lowered it back to her side and followed. I jogged up to her and whispered,

“If you had gone through with it I wouldn’t have blamed you,”

Dop cackled loudly. Winston turned back and stared at me with a perplexed look on his face. I patted Dop’s back and just let it happen. I sat on the edge of a ramp and fiddled with my camera as I watched from afar.

Dop was a quick learner; she got the hang of balancing and riding around within an hour and somehow Winston hadn’t done something to make her wanna strangle him. All the while I was taking pictures. Jamie had come back from hazing the teenagers and was sitting with me, talking.

“She’s a real cutie, surprised you’re not dating her. Actually, are you dating anyone at all?” She nudged my shoulder. I rolled my eyes and smiled at her.

“Nah, I’m not dating anyone. There’s just no one that’s caught my attention quite yet,” I looked down at Jamie’s board as she tapped her fingers on the old, scrapped up wood. “Also, Dop is gay so don’t be all weird with you dumb operation set-Pedro-up-with-a-partner.”

Jamie just laughed loudly and pushed me.

“That’s interesting tho. You think I’d be her type?” She wiggled her eyebrows at me.

“I think she’d be your type if you weren’t dating Winston.”

“Oh right, that guy… I’m thinking of breaking up with him. He’s been acting-” she paused and brought her hand up to the back of my neck. “Did you get a haircut recently?”

“No,” I closed my eyes at her touch.

“I guess it just has been a while since we’ve seen each other. We should really make it a point to hang out more.” She ran her hand through my hair before pulling away.

“Yeah. I do wanna hang out more, but our schedules are always so different. As long as we stay in contact though, I’m pretty happy.” We smiled at each other and then she leaned on me.

“Pedro!” Dop was quickly skating up to us. I saw as she tried to turn and break but she stopped too hard and fell forward. She expertly rolled back into a standing position before I could even react. “I meant to do that.” She said, wide eyed.

“That was pretty rad, Dop,” Jamie scooted off the edge of the ramp and slid down. She ended up right in front of her and I could hear her murmur something which made them both laugh. Dop then looked up to me and smiled.

“You can use your board so you can get some recording in.”

“Cool. I did get some pictures though, so I wasn’t too worried about going home empty handed,” I slid down the ramp as well and grabbed my board.

“Pictures of me?”

“Not just of you, but you’re in them.”

“Do they have my face in any of them?”

“No. I wouldn’t publish any pictures with you in them though, I know how you feel about it,” I smiled to reassure her, but Dop just looked away from me.

“Let me know when we’re going home,” Dop said as she climbed up the ramp to sit on the edge.

“Will do,” I glanced back at her just once more before I skated off with Jamie.


End file.
